Cliff Saunders has an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Arizona. His poems have appeared recently in The Wayne Literary Review, Pedestal Magazine, Wilderness House Literary Review, Pinyon, San Pedro River Review, North of Oxford, and RipRap Literary Journal. He lives in Myrtle Beach, where he serves as co-coordinator of The Litchfield Tea & Poetry Series.

The Strongest Love

To this heart, pass the torch
of community and tranquility.
Give me a healing touch
worth the risk, a sweet return
to the quirky air
under the tree of motherhood.
Look me in the eye and tell me
it’s true that candy placed
in your ear speaks to you.
My friend, you shake
the winter from your sofa
and then sneak out into spring,
but I happen to know you’re
a true garden of autumn.
I know what touches you,
affects you, gnaws on your
last nerve like mosquito repellent.
In loving me, you love
the big ape who snores while
sleeping in a ten-gabled farmhouse.
I’m grateful for each night
you fall out of me like a star.
Without question I love you,
beautiful branch of the future.
I love you more than the making
of music, feel you as the sea
feels one string attached.
My gray hair is all yours.
It’s long past time I lowered
its bridge to your heart.
This little light of mine
makes you dance between chefs,
near downtown bars where
you find faith in the power
of stories and you’re never alone.